Saturday, 18 October 2014

Dear faithful reader, I'd like you to ponder with me a little bit of holy scripture that seems wonderfully apt for the proceedings currently taking place in Rome. It is Psalm 67 and is always worth saying with confidence, but right now it is DYNAMITE. Allow me to lead you through some of the most profound bits, I'm using Challoner's translation, which whilst not perfect, has a certain majesty.

Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: and let them that hate him flee before his face. As smoke vanishes, so let them vanish away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.

Say it brothers and sisters, say those lines, and don't stop saying them, you know it makes sense!

Let the just feast, and rejoice before God: and be delighted with gladness.

Whatever is going on amongst His creatures, we can and must rejoice before God, otherwise we turn the Resurrection into a sham. If we don't rejoice before God, it means we have stopped believing.

Sing ye to God, sing a psalm to His name, make way for Him who ascendeth upon the west, the Lord is His name.

In the western sky, in the darkness of the approaching night, He is there, call on Him, love Him.

Rejoice ye before Him, but the wicked shall be troubled at his presence, who is the father of orphans and the judge of widows.

We are all orphans, and we are adopted children of the Father, that is enough to rejoice over in itself. Myself, as a widow, someone for whom God has intervened so directly in my life through the death of my spouse, I will do His work, I will stand before Him and be judged, I see no harshness in those words.

God in his holy place: God who maketh men of one manner to dwell in a house.

Unity is a mark of God, God is ONE. Division is a mark of Satan. Pray for the unity of the Church.

Who bringeth out them that were bound in strength: in the like manner them that provoke that dwell in sepulchres.

It is God who will give strength to those that love Him, even if the enemy presses against them with terrible force. It is also God who will expose the empty vessels, the shallow clanging brass, the sound and fury with no significance. This empty fury is in the Church, it is in each and every one of us, and we need to pray for the discernment to cut out this noise, this illusion that pretends to be life, that emanates from the tombs, and is nothing but the death of the spirit.

Thou has set aside for thy inheritance a free rain, O God: and it was weakened, but thou hast made it perfect.

The free rain of Grace, the superabundance of His mercy, the Eucharist..... God made It perfect.... we are the cause of the weakness... and the humbler we are them more we can share in Its perfection... indeed the weakening is a signal to us to be humble... our faith is not something palatable to glory hunters and to the smug.

The Lord will give word to them that preach good tidings with great power.

Pray that we all stick to the Gospel, that we live by it, and the Lord will do the rest, He will put the right words in the mouths of the right souls at the right time and His will be done.

The king of powers is of the beloved, of the beloved: and the beauty of the house shall divide the spoils.

The only treasures that matter are in the house of the King, and the "beauty of the house", Our Lady, has His ear and will make sure the treasures are distributed.

If you sleep among the midst of lots, you shall be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and the hinder parts with the paleness of gold.

Trust in the Lord, fall asleep in His arms, and "He will give sleep to His beloved" Ps 126... His rest, His treasures..... do not fear. Trust in Him.

The mountain of God is a fat mountain, A curdled mountain. Why suspect ye curdled mountains?

This and lines that follow it make it abundantly clear that God hears the voices of His faithful followers. There are many more faithful than we know about, but they are silent, unfashionable and living in those parts of the world that nobody gives much of a thought to. God's oeconomy of salvation isn't some catastrophic failure, a harvest with a poor yield. The harvest is rich, believe in it and work for Him alone, be one of His labourers and His friends.

The chariot of God is attended by ten thousands; thousands of them that rejoice: the Lord is among them in Sina in the holy place.

***Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive.

I never tire of those lines!

Blessed be the Lord day by day, the God of our salvation will make our journey prosperous to us.

Or those!

Our God is the God of salvation: and of the Lord are the issues from death. But God shall break the heads of his enemies: the hairy crown of them that walk on in their sins.

That the successors of the Apostles are worthy and work to strengthen the Church, to make the bride of Christ beautiful for her Beloved.

Rebuke the wild beasts of the reeds, the congregation of bulls with the kine of the people; who seek to exclude them who are tried with silver.

There are wild beasts who have found their way into the church and they have brought their wild ways with them and they wish to exclude those who are truly sons and daughters of the Church, those who gladly suffer silently for their faith, by sticking to it despite the arguments of those within the church to lessen the discipline ... the "bulls" wish trample on them and say their ways are irrelevant.....

Scatter the nations that delight in wars, ambassadors shall come from Egypt: Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands to God.

Only by being witnesses to the Truth can we seek to lead others to Christ. They will come, if they see our example; the clarity and brilliance and beauty of the Truth by which we live.

Sing ye to God, ... sing ye to God...God is wonderful in his saints: the God of Israel is He who will give power and strength to His people. Blessed be God.